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Title details for The Glimmer Palace by Beatrice Colin - Available

The Glimmer Palace

by Beatrice Colin
Justine Eyre
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
The debauched celebration of the cabaret era. The magical ascent of cinema. The deprivations of World War I and the buildup to World War II. Set against the rise and fall of Berlin and the innovations in art that accompanied it, The Glimmer Palace brilliantly weaves together the story of one orphan girl’s remarkable journey, from poverty to film stardom, with an illuminating account of an astonishing history. 
As the clock chimes the turn of the twentieth century, Lilly Nelly Aphrodite takes her first breath. The illegitimate, soon orphaned daughter of a cabaret performer, she lands at a Catholic orphanage where she finds refuge and the first in a string of friendships that will change the direction of her life. When fellow orphan Hanne takes Lilly beyond their stone-walled confines, introducing her to the seedy glamour of Berlin’s notorious nightlife, Lilly’s trajectory of reinvention begins. From urchin to maid, teenage war bride, tingle-tangle bar girl, model, and script typist, Lilly is eventually transformed into one of Germany’s leading film stars and a partner in a remarkable love story that will span decades and continents–and be inextricable from the history unfolding around it. 
The tale of an extraordinary heroine living in an extraordinary time, THE GLIMMER PALACE is vivid in its telling, and intelligent and ambitious in its scope.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 5, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415954911
      • File size: 384427 KB
      • Duration: 13:20:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 30, 2008
      Covering the life of Lilly Nelly Aphrodite from the turn of the century until World War II, this overly familiar historical novel takes the listener inside the clubs and film industry of Berlin. German accents depict most of the characters; it probably would have been wiser for Justine Eyre and her director to take the Berlin setting as a given, for little attention is paid to class differences. Only an American movie mogul sounds genuine. Eyre portrays Lilly as delicate and sweet; unfortunately, she reads Ilya, Lilly's main love interest, in much the same way, except with a Russian accent. Lilly's best friend Hanna has a gruffer voice that predictably imitates Marlene Dietrich. Though the narrative is clear enough to avoid confusion, most of the women sound exactly alike and boredom is inescapable. A Riverhead hardcover (Reviews, May 5).

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Justine Eyre is the ideal narrator for Colin's engaging story of a German orphan girl who, by her extraordinary ability to survive loneliness and hardship, becomes an iconic film star amid the Nazi rise to power. Eyre's characterizations of both male and female voices are genuine and compassionate. Her narration invokes a special empathy for the novel's heroine, Lilly Nelly Aphrodite, whom she grants just the right mix of na•veté and ingenuity to pull the listener along. Eyre's pronunciations are smooth and believable. Indeed, she may be one of the few audiobook narrators who can offer a lilting delivery of German names, places, and phrases. Other accents, notably Russian and American, are also easy on the ear. A great listen. R.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 5, 2008
      Born in Germany on December 31, 1899, Lilly Aphrodite is orphaned almost immediately: her lonely and tragic struggle for connection and survival drives Colin’s haunting debut and offers an intriguing look at the early 20th-century German film industry. Soon after the orphanage where Lilly spends her early years closes, she goes to Berlin to live with Hanne, an independent and fearless teenage girl who works in a bar and subsists on men’s handouts. As life in WWI Germany becomes increasingly bleak, Lilly must cope with Hanne’s sudden departures, find work, fend off troublesome men and unwelcome women, and make love (when she finds it) last when each day more soldiers are sent off to war. The out-of-nowhere growth of the German silent film business is charted along with Lilly’s progress as a budding star, but she’s drawn more to Russian exile Ilya Yurasov, who directs her, than to her increasing fame. With the rise of the Nazi Party comes a drain of cultural talent, and Lilly (now Lidi), must choose among several paths open to her. This grim and sorrowful novel will captivate readers as it recreates Germany’s cinematic revolution and the country’s subsequent tragic course through history.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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